Corporate performance evaluation: a multicriteria methodology and an application on the Athens Stock Exchange

Abstract

In this article, we present a multicriteria methodology for supporting decisions that concern the evaluation of the overall corporate performance of firms, on the basis of financial analysis. The methodology’s key-characteristic is that the firms participate in the evaluation process are categorised in classes, with respect to their corresponding industry. In this way, the huge issue of competition between rival firms is fully taken into consideration, while unreasonable comparisons between them are excluded. Moreover, the crucial importance issue of accounting singularities between business sectors is also strongly taken into account. The evaluation of each class of firms is based on specialised criteria set which correspond to the specific accounting plan each company belongs in. The validity of the proposed methodology is tested through a large scale application on the Athens Stock Exchange. Finally, an elaborate review of the coherent research studies is also provided.